To put it mildly, last year’s inaugural World of Dumplings in San Francisco was rife with growing pains.
Held at SoMa’s Rincon Center, the event dedicated to dough and fillings drew double the number of attendees it had expected, resulting in endless lines and most vendors selling out hours before the festival was supposed to end. People were so hungry that they were stealing food, and an unclear ticketing system increased wait times and frustration levels.
This year was going to be different, promised Zeien Cheung, festival co-organizer and co-founder of Asians Are Strong, the nonprofit that dreamed up World of Dumplings. The free event, held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 12 at the waterfront Ferry Plaza, had a new venue and more vendors, so I was eager to see if Cheung and her all-volunteer crew could deliver on that promise.
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The World of Dumplings festival, celebrating an array of cultures through the shared love of dumplings, was held this year at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
Xiao long bao are steamed at Dumpling Time at the World of Dumplings festival, at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
The World of Dumplings festival, celebrating an array of cultures through the shared love of dumplings, was held this year at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
They absolutely did. First of all, with 70-degree temperatures and only the smoke trails of Fleet Week clouding the clear, blue sky, it was an ideal day for an outdoor festival celebrating 17 of the city’s most exciting dumpling experts.
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Overlooking the waterfront, the vendors included established restaurants like James Beard Award-winning Yank Sing and Michelin-approved Palette Tea House, as well as up-and-coming spots, like Eastern European-Californian Dacha Kitchen & Bar.
The Ferry Plaza was already starting to fill up when I arrived around noon.
“It’s been crazy,” Cheung told me after I entered and passed a Labubu mascot that had its own sizable picture line.
Attendees of the World of Dumplings festival pose with a life-size Labubu at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
The World of Dumplings’s new Little D mascot hovered around the festival and looked like a life-size dumpling plushie. I took my now-annual dumpling face-in-the-hole selfie at the photo booth. I admired cultural dances, including performances from Ukrainian, Polish, Chinese and Korean dance groups.
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The festival, even with the few hundred people who had already started gathering, felt calmer than last year’s. Being outside lent a vibe that was less claustrophobic and far less sweatier than the indoor Rincon Center. Even when the lines got long enough that they started blending together, I didn’t feel a sense of dread and the need to look for an escape route, as I did last year.
Overall, my wait times ranged from four to 20 minutes — not bad compared with 2024’s event, when people waited in line for up to 75 minutes. Vendors sold portions ranging from one hearty dumpling to sampler plates to full-on meals for about $4–$18 each, some climbing to $20 and $25.
Pierogi, Eastern European dumplings, are served at the World of Dumplings festival at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
Audrey Lee is fed a hotteok, a Korean sweet fried pancake, at the World of Dumplings festival at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
Yank Sing serves a sampler plate consisting of pot stickers, a spinach dumpling, a steamed barbecue pork bun, and pork and shrimp siu mai at the World of Dumplings festival at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
Attendees came from as far as Pittsburg and San Jose. Audrey Lee and Christian Guanzing had heard about World of Dumplings from the Chuseok Festival held at the Presidio last month. They drove from Pittsburg to the Vallejo ferry terminal and then took the ferry to SF for World of Dumplings.
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After splitting up and waiting in line for more than 20 minutes, they enjoyed their collective round of food, including Indonesian empanadas from Nusa, seafood and Beijing dumplings from Palette Tea House, lumpia from Happy Macs, and a lot more. They had their fill. “We’ve battled the lines for today,” Lee said.
Ryan Laponis and his family, including visiting members from San Jose, drove from the Outer Sunset to Forest Hill Station and took Muni to the fest, with the tweens loving Yank Sing’s pot stickers, spinach dumplings, steamed char siu bao, and pork and shrimp siu mai the most. “It’s great, it’s very crowded, but that’s kind of fun,” Laponis said. “I don’t think I was expecting, like, such an international collection.”
The World of Dumplings festival, celebrating an array of cultures through the shared love of dumplings, was held this year at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
They also did the divide-and-conquer strategy, saying everyone went in different directions and came back 20 minutes later “with amazing stuff.” His family indulged in Jamaican patties from Peaches Patties, Indian samosas from Delhi Diner, Cantonese dim sum from Yank Sing, and Venezuelan empanadas from Andina. “We’re going around the world,” he said.
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Knowing what happened at the first World of Dumplings, many vendors came prepared with extra food.
Last year, Albany’s Delhi Diner sold out of its samosas before 1 p.m. This time around, owner Subhash Arora showed up with quadruple the amount of food — 10,000 baseball-sized samosas (potato-and-pea and chicken). He sold 7,000 of them before 2 p.m. It was “an awesome feeling” to be a part of the event, he told me later via email.
Spinach dumplings at the World of Dumplings festival at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
UkrFood Now serves varenyky, Ukrainian dumplings, at the World of Dumplings festival in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
Chiu Chow, vegan dumplings by Sassy Foods, are served at the World of Dumplings festival in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
After hearing about demand at the inaugural event, Palette Tea House general manager and owner Daniel Leung, a first-time festival vendor, brought 600 servings of dumplings and sold out; he sent for another batch from the Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant around 1:30 p.m. By the time I saw that the line had reformed and got in the queue, Palette had sold out again.
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When vendors took those necessary pauses to restock or close up after selling out, it confused some attendees. One young man behind me assumed that a very notable vendor lacked lines because the food wasn’t good, a common misconception at food festivals. “Oh, they’re cooking,” he said, when he realized the staffers were making more dumplings. “I thought it was because the food was ass.”
One of my favorite vendors, buzzy Eastern European-Californian Dacha, brought 5,000 piroshki (beef and mushroom) with a tangy tomato sauce and planned to have a person go back to the Lower Nob Hill restaurant to resupply during the festival. Owners Suki and Katya Skye had done only one food festival previously — the day before at a much smaller event. Still, they had the cutest booth with floral arrangements and pride flags showing the queer- and woman-owned mission. And their piroshki were delicious.
A dancer from the Chinese Folk Dance Association performs at the World of Dumplings festival in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
“We were deeply inspired by the mission of Asians Are Strong, which mirrors our own belief that food can be a bridge—inviting people to slow down, share space, and find common ground,” Suki said via email after the event. “Since opening almost two years ago, we’ve made it a priority to support local nonprofits, host community gatherings, and create a place where people can truly leave the world behind, if only for a meal.”
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In the end, more than 13,000 people attended this year’s festival — nearly double what organizers anticipated. I’m not surprised, given that the event is free to get into — not all food festivals are — and demand for delicious dumplings in the Bay Area is high.
A Yank Sing sampler plate at the World of Dumplings festival in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
Dumpling Time employees attend to their steamer baskets at the World of Dumplings festival in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
Yank Sing steamed barbecue pork buns are ready to be served at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 2025.
Lizzy Montana Myers/For SFGATE
People want quality, convenience and diversity in their food festivals. But most of all, they want a smoothly run operation with reasonable wait times — both of which they got on Sunday. I had some doubts last year, but given how organizers streamlined the ticketing this year and that vendors increased their offerings, I think World of Dumplings now has the potential to become one of the city’s best food festivals.
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